1321.37
Application for license - investigation - bond.

(A)
Application for an original or renewal license to make short-term loans shall
be in writing, under oath, and in the form prescribed by the superintendent of
financial institutions, and shall contain the name and address of the
applicant, the location where the business of making loans is to be conducted,
and any further information as the superintendent requires. At the time of
making an application for an original license, the applicant shall pay to the
superintendent a nonrefundable investigation fee of two hundred dollars. No
investigation fee or any portion thereof shall be refunded after an original
license has been issued. The application for an original or renewal license
shall be accompanied by an original or renewal license fee, for each business
location of one thousand dollars, except that applications for original
licenses issued on or after the first day of July for any year shall be
accompanied by an original license fee of five hundred dollars, and except that
an application for an original or renewal license, for a nonprofit corporation
that is incorporated under Chapter 1702. of the Revised Code, shall be
accompanied by an original or renewal license fee, for each business location,
that is one-half of the fee otherwise required. All fees paid to the
superintendent pursuant to this division shall be deposited into the state
treasury to the credit of the consumer finance fund.

(B)
Upon
the filing of an application for an original license and, with respect to an
application filed for a renewal license, on a schedule determined by the
superintendent by rule adopted pursuant to section
1321.43 of the Revised Code, and
the payment of fees in accordance with division (A) of this section, the
superintendent shall investigate the facts concerning the applicant and the
requirements provided by this division. The superintendent shall request the
superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation, or a
vendor approved by the bureau, to conduct a criminal records check based on the
applicant's fingerprints in accordance with section
109.572 of the Revised Code.
Notwithstanding division (K) of section
121.08 of the Revised Code, the
superintendent of financial institutions shall request that criminal record
information from the federal bureau of investigation be obtained as part of the
criminal records check. The superintendent of financial institutions shall
conduct a civil records check. The superintendent shall approve an application
and issue an original or renewal license to the applicant if the superintendent
finds all of the following:

(1)
The
financial responsibility, experience, reputation, and general fitness of the
applicant are such as to warrant the belief that the business of making loans
will be operated lawfully, honestly, and fairly under sections
1321.35 to
1321.48 of the Revised Code and
within the purposes of those sections; that the applicant has fully complied
with those sections and any rule or order adopted or issued pursuant to section
1321.43 of the Revised Code; and
that the applicant is qualified to engage in the business of making loans under
sections 1321.35 to
1321.48 of the Revised
Code.

(2)
The
applicant is financially sound and has a net worth of not less than one hundred
thousand dollars, or in the case of a nonprofit corporation that is
incorporated under Chapter 1702. of the Revised Code, a net worth of not less
than fifty thousand dollars. The applicant's net worth shall be computed
according to generally accepted accounting principles.

(4)
Neither
the applicant nor any senior officer, or partner of the applicant, has pleaded
guilty to or been convicted of any criminal offense involving theft, receiving
stolen property, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, passing bad checks, money
laundering, or drug trafficking, or any criminal offense involving money or
securities or any violation of an existing or former law of this state, any
other state, or the United States that substantially is equivalent to a
criminal offense described in that division. However, if the applicant or any
of those other persons has pleaded guilty to or been convicted of any such
offense other than theft, the superintendent shall not consider the offense if
the applicant has proven to the superintendent, by a preponderance of the
evidence, that the applicant's or other person's activities and employment
record since the conviction show that the applicant or other person is honest,
truthful, and of good reputation, and there is no basis in fact for believing
that the applicant or other person will commit such an offense again.

(5)
Neither
the applicant nor any senior officer, or partner of the applicant, has been
subject to any adverse judgment for conversion, embezzlement, misappropriation
of funds, fraud, misfeasance or malfeasance, or breach of fiduciary duty, or if
the applicant or any of those other persons has been subject to such a
judgment, the applicant has proven to the superintendent, by a preponderance of
the evidence, that the applicant's or other person's activities and employment
record since the judgment show that the applicant or other person is honest,
truthful, and of good reputation, and there is no basis in fact for believing
that the applicant or other person will be subject to such a judgment
again.

(C)
If the
superintendent finds that the applicant does not meet the requirements of
division (B) of this section, or the superintendent finds that the applicant
knowingly or repeatedly contracts with or employs persons to directly engage in
lending activities who have been convicted of a felony crime listed in division
(B)(5) of this section, the superintendent shall issue an order denying the
application for an original or renewal license and giving the applicant an
opportunity for a hearing on the denial in accordance with Chapter 119. of the
Revised Code. The superintendent shall notify the applicant of the denial, the
grounds for the denial, and the applicant's opportunity for a hearing. If the
application is denied, the superintendent shall return the annual license fee
but shall retain the investigation fee.

(D)
No
person licensed under sections
1321.35 to
1321.48 of the Revised Code shall
conduct business in this state unless the licensee has obtained and maintains
in effect at all times a corporate surety bond issued by a bonding company or
insurance company authorized to do business in this state. The bond shall be in
favor of the superintendent and in the penal sum of at least one hundred
thousand dollars, or in the case of a nonprofit corporation that is
incorporated under Chapter 1702. of the Revised Code, in the amount of fifty
thousand dollars. The term of the bond shall coincide with the term of the
license. The licensee shall file a copy of the bond with the superintendent.
The bond shall be for the exclusive benefit of any borrower injured by a
violation by a licensee or any employee of a licensee, of any provision of
sections 1321.35 to
1321.48 of the Revised
Code.